DYNAMICS OF ACCUMULATION AND PARTITIONING OF DRY MATTER AND FRUCTO-OLIGOSACCHARIDES IN PLANT FRACTIONS OF FORAGE CEREALS

During growth, several cereals store significant amounts of fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), which have important prebiotic properties. Cereal forage crops are also essential components of many Mediterranean agricultural systems, although little information is available on their dynamics of accumulation and partitioning of dry matter and FOS during growth. Oat (Avena sativa L., cv. 'Flavia' and cv. 'Genziana'), emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum Schrank, cv. 'Giovanni Paolo'), barley (Hordeum vulgare L., cv. 'Diomede') and triticale (xTriticosecale Wittmack, cv. 'Rigel') were investigated for their synthesis of FOS, with a view to development of management approaches for harvesting high-quality forage, and to determine whether these species can be used as natural sources of FOS for commercial use. The study was conducted at Foggia (Italy) and Bella (Potenza, Italy) over two growing seasons (2008-2009; 2009-2010). Dry-matter accumulation and FOS contents were determined for plant fractions from heading to kernel-hard stages. There were large variations across these species for dry-matter partitioning and dry-matter yield (greatest for triticale: 1.24 kg m(-2)), and for FOS levels of total plants and plant fractions. Emmer wheat and triticale showed greater FOS production (52.0, 41.1 gm(-2), respectively). Barley, emmer wheat and triticale showed higher FOS levels in total plants (4.11%, 5.93%, 4.33% dry matter, respectively). Barley, emmer wheat and triticale appear to be the most interesting species for production of forage biomass rich in FOS and as natural FOS sources for industrial use.